"I know your doorman hates me, I can see it in his smile /He bares his teeth to greet me just like a crocodile..."
Brooklyn based singer-songwriter, keyboardist Anton Sword stirs indie synth pop sounds with an air of lush 80's dance pop and art rock grandeur. Listening to "Song of Stings", from a newly released single and a follow up to the December 2020 release of the "Numbody" EP, and I can feel a parting of giant red velvet curtains and Anton being the wizard behind them. The sort of Farfisa-esque keyboard progs and vibe feels at once glammy and lounge pop lush like an amalgam of T-Rex and Bryan Ferry. The song is moving on what feels like layered machine beats enhancing the kind of dance / lounge feel and like a skillful painter, Anton layers synths, organic piano sounds, guitar patterns, a resonant synth bass and his evocative vocal stylings. Somehow Anton blends 80's whimsy, cosmic questions and sexual allure without any cringe factor, not easy to do during these times were everyone's woke antennae is up.
Interesting facts: Sword has toured the Eastern USA twice and Europe 10 times, playing for a small but loyal following. One of his ambient compositions runs in a loop on permanent display in Manhattan’s American Museum of Natural History, scoring the ‘Astro Bulletin’ in the lobby of the Rose Space Center.
'Numbody,' the new EP, emerges after a five-year hiatus following 3 prior releases. Dark times, some suggest, require uplifting songs. But darkness may also demand to be heard for what it is when the time is ripe. Sword says: "I wrote these songs years ago, when few of us dreamed of entering the scary tunnel in which the world now finds itself. The tunes sat squirming in place, stuck, unsure of where to root themselves, as I struggled to teach myself how to mix and wondered what I was doing. Now, after the death of one parent, the birth of two children, countless failed mix attempts, band scattering, a cursed pandemic, and a swallowing of the world into the worrying belly of an oblivious beast, I finally hear these songs as anchored somehow in the present moment. At last, they sound weirdly relevant to me. This is a sweet release. I expect, now that the channel is unclogged, more to erupt, ooze, or sneak out in 2021."
-Robb Donker Curtius
'Numbody,' the new EP, emerges after a five-year hiatus following 3 prior releases. Dark times, some suggest, require uplifting songs. But darkness may also demand to be heard for what it is when the time is ripe. Sword says: "I wrote these songs years ago, when few of us dreamed of entering the scary tunnel in which the world now finds itself. The tunes sat squirming in place, stuck, unsure of where to root themselves, as I struggled to teach myself how to mix and wondered what I was doing. Now, after the death of one parent, the birth of two children, countless failed mix attempts, band scattering, a cursed pandemic, and a swallowing of the world into the worrying belly of an oblivious beast, I finally hear these songs as anchored somehow in the present moment. At last, they sound weirdly relevant to me. This is a sweet release. I expect, now that the channel is unclogged, more to erupt, ooze, or sneak out in 2021."
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://www.antonsword.com/
https://antonsword.bandcamp.com/
https://twitter.com/antonsword
https://www.instagram.com/antonsword/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smJ5w8QET0M
https://soundcloud.com/antonsword
NYC-based keyboardist Anton Sword leads an indie synth-pop / dance/ new wave project with a shifting band lineup. Sword has toured the Eastern USA twice and Europe 10 times, playing for a small but loyal following. One of his ambient compositions runs in a loop on permanent display in Manhattan’s American Museum of Natural History, scoring the ‘Astro Bulletin’ in the lobby of the Rose Space Center.
'Numbody,' the new EP, emerges after a five-year hiatus following 3 prior releases. Dark times, some suggest, require uplifting songs. But darkness may also demand to be heard for what it is when the time is ripe. Sword says: "I wrote these songs years ago, when few of us dreamed of entering the scary tunnel in which the world now finds itself. The tunes sat squirming in place, stuck, unsure of where to root themselves, as I struggled to teach myself how to mix and wondered what I was doing. Now, after the death of one parent, the birth of two children, countless failed mix attempts, band scattering, a cursed pandemic, and a swallowing of the world into the worrying belly of an oblivious beast, I finally hear these songs as anchored somehow in the present moment. At last, they sound weirdly relevant to me. This is a sweet release. I expect, now that the channel is unclogged, more to erupt, ooze, or sneak out in 2021."
"Does Anton Sword actually know how cool he is? Numbody sounds like Barry Adamson on the wagon; Leading to Ledge like Kraftwerk with guest vocals by Josh Homme. And Symphony for Bird and Gun makes me want to go night clubbing. Where? At The Cooler in 1996. But what's best about Anton Sword's music is that you never know what to expect next. Death Disco? Easy Metal? A musical? We’ll see!"
--Frank Heer, music writer
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